I had dreams that it was raining. I wonder if it was because of the hotel’s sprinkler system outside.

I try my best to sleep in but I naturally wake up at 5:30am.

The post office isn’t open till 8. I try to sleep more. The bed is so nice. Thank you again Doug!

I grab some coffee from the hotel’s breakfast nook and head over to the post to get my box. It’s a short 8 min walk.

I open the resupply back in my room and what a surprise!!!

Jiji Too!!!! And lots of yummy snacks and treats. Oh my gosh! Thank you Doug!!!!

I had to retire my original Jiji hiking buddy in East Glacier.

I am so happy!

After my zero with the Gosink’s and hiking faster than I had anticipated, I am left with a lot of extra food. I think I have twice as much as I need. Haha ooops

I pack a box to send back to Doug. Normally you can put extra food in a hiker box. A hiker box is like a donation box that you can leave extra food or gear in for someone else to take. It’s a wonderful system!

But this hotel doesn’t have one of those, and I have quite a lot… so I’m sending it back to Doug to send to me later haha

I walk over to Professor’s hotel. We are meeting up with Jim and Pam for breakfast. The place they pick is right out front of my hotel! I didn’t even realize there was a food place right there!

I order a breakfast burrito and it is soooo good. I eat almost all of it, I am stuffed!

After breakfast I head back to the post office to mail Doug my extra food.

I pack up my things and meet Professor and Jim out side.

Jim gives us a ride to the trail head again! Thank you so so much!

Right as we are dropped off a Lyft pulls up and drops off another hiker! Her trail name is Platinum.

The three of us cross the highway onto the alternate route around the trail closure. It’s a 10 mile treck up some hilly side roads. 5 miles paved, 5 miles dirt.

There’s not a lot of info on the water situation so I carry extra. Ooof my tummy is so full, my hip belt squeezes on it. Maybe I ate too much….

We take a break at the paved to dirt road transition. Ouch pavement hurts to walk on for long periods of time. The break is welcome. I get some painting done.

We eventually head out.

The hill steepens and I get in a groove.

Maybe eating that much burrito was a good thing after all…. Burrito power!!!!

I charge up the rest of the hill and back onto the official CDT trail. Yesss.

I pause to paint and wait for the others. Professor breaks with me and Platinum hikes on.

The trail goes along a rolling dirt road. The wild flowers are just gorgeous. They never get old.

It starts to sprinkle and I rush to put my pack cover on. I need to figure out a good way to protect my solar panel.

Professor hikes on as I fiddle with my rain jacket.

We reach the next water source. A swampy kind of pond.

It starts to sprinkle heavier. We rush to set up our tents and dive in just as it starts to hail! Perfect timing!

(I manage to fit my tent between the trees haha)

We wait out the rain and hail.

It starts to clear up and we make dinner on the road away from our tents. The mosquitoes are quite bad. It starts to sprinkle again while we eat. I don’t mind because it makes the mosquitoes less.

We hang our food and start to turn in for the night when Professor remembers there might be some Aroara Borialis tonight! Exciting!!!!

We’re going to wake up at midnight to hopefully see them.